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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 6h

In the latest @thetls.bsky.social, I review Iya Kiva’s uncompromising collection “Silence Dressed in Cyrillic Letters,” translated from Russian and Ukrainian by Amelia Glaser and Yuliya Ilchuk @huribooks.bsky.social: www.the-tls.com/literature/p...

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 13/09/2026

"It’s not our place to ponder the true worth / of fragile imitations, fortune’s gifts for / ladies of noble taste and common birth. Read “Facing the Music,” a poem by Boris Dralyuk:

bit.ly

Facing the Music

A poem by Boris Dralyuk

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Dori Moody @dorimoody.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Loved following the one-eared Samson in and out of bathhouses on the trail of black caviar in 1919 Kyiv. Thank you @nadyawilliams81.bsky.social for review, and @bdralyuk.bsky.social for the translation! And Andrey Kurkov for creating a wonderful series. www.plough.com/articles/and...

plough.com

Andrey Kurkov’s Kyiv Mysteries | Plough

The Ukrainian literary sensation does far more than entertain.

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Jenny Croft @jenniferlcroft.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I was thrilled by the reviews of my last book--so many were works of art in their own right! Not Kirkus. "Cheap sleep aid, non-habit-forming,"* they wrote--and that was the kindest part! BUT check out Kirkus on my new book! We are friends again! www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A little elegy for my aunt from the October issue of @theatlantic.com. I am immensely grateful to Walt Hunter for giving it space on the shelf. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

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Orange County Review of Books @ocreviewofbooks.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

“A seam of memorable statements runs through this book, and Voloshin mines it with gusto.” Eric Bies reviews Alexander Voloshin’s SIDETRACKED: EXILE IN HOLLYWOOD, recently rescued via @bdralyuk.bsky.social’s translation. @pauldrybooks.bsky.social ocreviewofbooks.substack.com/p/sidetracke...

ocreviewofbooks.substack.com

Sidetracked: Exile in Hollywood by Alexander Voloshin

Reviewed by Eric Bies

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

An autumnal ballad-sonnet hybrid for Edna St. Vincent Millay, a master of both forms. I thank Ken Gordon of THE SONNETEER for giving my poem a little plot in the sun.

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Nimrod Journal @nimrodjournal.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Today our newsletter readers received a story by Kashona Notah from the Summer 2026 issue. “‘Yá’át’ééh shik’is.’ An older man with an uncombed gray ponytail stuck his head out the window. With the window open, the music became clearer, it was a round dance song.“ nimrodjournal.substack.com/p/hoka

nimrodjournal.substack.com

Hoka!

A story by Kashona Notah

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

My translation of “Love Oklahoma” by Oleksandr Irvanets is out in the terrific (and highly appropriately titled) journal OKIE MODERN. As I write in my introduction, Oleksandr Irvanets’s whimsical ode to Oklahoma, which the poet had never visited, was written in 1992. 1/2

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Poems that stun me on each read. Here is the one by @zinagomezliss.bsky.social. Click through for the one by Paula Bohince.

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Rose Mason @rosemmason.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I decided to wait until all 3 of The Kyiv Mysteries arrived before starting The Silver Bone and, now that I've gotten some other reading out of the way, decided to read one after the other. I'm now over halfway through TSB, and love Kurkov's wit and @bdralyuk.bsky.social 's brilliant translation!

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Spend an hour with Ange Mlinko, Michael Caines, and me as we discuss the work of Henri Coulette (1927-1988), whose NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, which Michael and I co-edited, is now available from @carcanet.bsky.social: youtu.be/WodlOh5NjMY

youtu.be

Henri Coulette: New and Selected Poems Book Launch

YouTube video by Carcanet Press

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

The great Cynthia Haven weighs in, briefly, on Voloshin’s SIDETRACKED in @thetls.bsky.social! “Brilliantly translated… Voloshin attempts to come to grips with the sweep of the twentieth century, from the Revolution to Pearl Harbor.” @pauldrybooks.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...

the-tls.com

They sold their shadows

One of Russia’s lesser-known poets worked as an actor, a waiter, a soldier and a military officer in the years after the Bolshevik Revolution and the

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Peter Kravitz @peterkravitz.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Great writer, great translator, wise reviewer…

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Dori Moody @dorimoody.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Can't wait to read these! Thank you to @plough.bsky.social for review by @nadyawilliams81.bsky.social

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

What a perceptive and moving conclusion to @nadyawilliams81.bsky.social’s new review of Andrey Kurkov’s Kyiv Mysteries in @plough.bosky.social… Thank you! @quercusbooks.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social www.plough.com/articles/and...

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Readers, I implore you, listen to Eric Bies and get yourselves to @pauldrybooks.bsky.social! Voloshin awaits!

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

To be read at all, much less so appreciatively, is a great privilege… Thank you again, @ocregister.bsky.social!

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Missing LA this morning, I posted a brief poem by a fellow Odesa-born émigré, Viktor Rayzman (b. 1934), with whom I must have ridden this very bus route at least once…

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Steve Sick @starrytraveler.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Ghost Signs by Boris Dralyuk (Excerpt) A slip of paper laundered in the pocket of an old coat, the ink a blurry bruise; a coil of hair trapped in a shopworn locket— a child’s? a lover’s?—just no telling whose; #SignsOnSunday #ImageAndVerse #SilentSunday #ClassicMono

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Linger over that perfect line break in the closing couplet of this poem, or over the rhymes of the second in the link, and you will come to appreciate just how hard this soi-disant “minor poet” has fought to “to be good in his own way.” I love these translations!

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The Common @commonmag.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

"I looked him up. A studio electrician, / for some time he sold beachy curios— / albums of sea moss, moonstones, flying fish wings— / by mail. He never wore a doughboy’s clothes." Read more of Boris Dralyuk's poem "Legion," a meditation on remembering and sacrifice, below!

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Legion

BORIS DRALYUK <br> Of C. H. Krumm—Charles Harrison, or Harry— / a single trace remains on Catalina, / so oxidized, so salt-worn I could barely / make out the name. How many must have seen it /…

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Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

"It is sad that 'Sidetracked' has gone unnoticed for so long, but this is an appropriate time for it to be published." Robert Chandler on Boris Dralyuk's "Sidetracked: Exiled in Hollywood": lareviewofbooks.org/article/sidetra…

lareviewofbooks.org

An Epic of Displacement | Los Angeles Review of Books

Boris Dralyuk’s latest work of translation is Alexander Voloshin’s poetic epic about a Ukrainian exile lost in Hollywood.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Instructive story about holding personal subjects at a slight distance in poems. Thomas Hardy wrote this after his cat’s death. Florence, his young love, objected to the line calling the cat the “only friend.” H. assured her that the man was not him, just one in his situation.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I’m in this week’s @thetls.bsky.social, reviewing Maxim Tarnawsky’s translation of a Ukrainian classic, Valerian Pidmohylnyi’s THE CITY (1928), which is a hit in wartime Kyiv—and also offering a little background on the “Executed Renaissance” and Russia’s long war against Ukrainian culture.

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Light @lightpoetrymag.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Big summer sale thru 7/9 @ @pauldrybooks.bsky.social—home of many great books & Light poets, including @aestallings.bsky.social, @bdralyuk.bsky.social, A.M Juster & Light Ed-in-Chief Melissa Balmain www.pauldrybooks.com @paullander.bsky.social

pauldrybooks.com

Home of Paul Dry Books

Paul Dry Books

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Charles Martin, one of my favorite poets, shares a story about his mother’s brush with history. For the other poem, by @azforeman, click through: nimrodjournal.substack.com/p/history-ad...

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John Greening @greeningpoet.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

A great pleasure to discover neglected California poet Henri Coulette in this excellent selection from @carcanet.bsky.social , edited by @bdralyuk.bsky.social and Michael Caines #poetry

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Rhonda Jensen @rrrjjensen.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

bsky.app/profile/bdra...

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I can’t call this a review, exactly, although it is surely as careful a reading as my work has ever received. Hard to express what it means to me, this pat on the back from a giant, my teacher, Robert Chandler. lareviewofbooks.org/article/side...

lareviewofbooks.org

An Epic of Displacement | Los Angeles Review of Books

Boris Dralyuk’s latest work of translation is Alexander Voloshin’s poetic epic about a Ukrainian exile lost in Hollywood.

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Caustic Cover Critic @causticcovercritic.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

From 'My Hollywood' by Boris Dralyuk (@bdralyuk.bsky.social)

THE CATCH: ON TRANSLATION
I draw you out, faint voice, from rippled pages:
a famished angler reeling in a fish,
the kind that, in the folktale, grants a wish-
a golden thing, imbued with living magic.

Between us is the taut line of attention,
imperiled by the current and the wind.
Slowly but willfully, I reel you in.
We hold each other, for a moment, in suspension.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

One of these two devastating lyrics—this one by Arthur Solway.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Hachi is brilliant. Don’t miss this chance!

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Eric T. Racher @ericracher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Immense gratitude to @bdralyuk.bsky.social for his kindness and generosity. One is almost embarrassed to share such words about one's own work. www.saggingmeniscus.com/catalog/glos... @saggingmeniscus.bsky.social

“Is the experimental impulse a virtue in itself? Perhaps. I feel more confident in asserting that experimentation grows in virtue if pursued not only with talent and skill, not only with a great deal of knowledge, not only with evident joy, but also with a love of the material in its initial form. By these standards, Eric T. Racher is a virtuoso of the literary experiment; indeed, he is a virtuoso by any measure. In his hands, the sonnet does things it has never done before, over and over, yet does not suffer, does not break down under pressure. One moves from entry to entry, ever more eagerly exclaiming, ‘O heart us then and rhyme us!’”

—Boris Dralyuk, author of My Hollywood

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Michael Bazzett @mikhailbazharov.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Damn happy to have this poem land in the gorgeous new issue of @nimrodjournal.bsky.social! It's from my next book, The MORPHOLOGIST, which is about reading & death, among other things, forthcoming from Milkweed in 2027. 💀Grateful to editor @bdralyuk.bsky.social & all involved...

BURIAL DIRECTIVE

I thought to start this note with a fervent wish, then backed off.
Not from the wish but the phrasing. Fervent seems the wrong word
for the hopes of a dead man. As does wish. There is something florid
about the former, empty about the latter. So let us be succinct –
this a directive – to be heeded: 1.) Upon the event of my passing,
I would like the bones of my body to be salvaged from what remains.
2.) I would like them preserved in the appropriate lacquers, preferably
an oiled matte finish to withstand the weather yet allow the sun
to continue with its bleaching work. 3.) I would like these bones
re-assembled in a seated pose and placed outdoors, holding a book
in my left hand, its pages opened like a gull’s wings in the breeze.
4.) I would like one of my pipes cupped in my right hand. Whichever,
it doesn’t matter. My lungs and tongue will no longer be with me,
as such the pipe is ornament. 5.) The seated pose may be either
right leg over left or left over right – dealer’s choice – but the legs
should be elegantly crossed, my torso slightly reclined. 6.) If anyone
should pay a visit, I would prefer a pinch of tobacco pressed into
the pipe bowl – and lit! – in lieu of flowers. 7.) It would be good
to have me looking up from the book and into the trees. 8.) Those
were my favorites: those books that had me looking out the window
or gazing at the sea. The ones that were so good, I had to look away.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Don’t take it from Andrey Kurkov and me, take it from @newyorker.com: “Kolechko is a kind of anti-Poirot … In Kurkov's hands, his efforts offer both serious meditations and page-turning diversion.” @quercusbooks.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

It would be silly to hope for this odd little book to become a runaway bestseller. If it reaches a handful of people and brings them some measure of pleasure, I would be more than satisfied. When I see a reader’s response like the one I just spotted on Goodreads, I rejoice.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I came to Hollywood Forever to pay my respects to Alexander Voloshin, and to tell him—or so I would like to believe—that his work, so long neglected, now has a chance to bring a few sighs and smiles to readers in the language of the country where he rests.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

A great essay by one of my favorite practitioners of the genre, focusing on Ellison’s own extraordinary nonfiction.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Charles Gullans (1929-93)—student of Yvor Winters, mentor to Timothy Steele—spent most of his career at UCLA and wrote with great dignity and passion about the loneliness he experienced and witnessed in Los Angeles as a gay bachelor. Something of Cavafy in this poem.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

A poem for my grandmother and Lucille Ball, from the June issue of Australian Book Review—with enormous gratitude to the dazzling Felicity Plunkett and the other editors.

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Rob Dale @robdale.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Here in UK amongst the Kindle Daily deals is Andrey Kurkov's The Stolen Heart book two of the Kyiv mysteries series, translated by @bdralyuk.bsky.social Yours for just 99 pence in the UK amzn.eu/d/03s5aQPf

amzn.eu

The Stolen Heart: The Kyiv Mysteries eBook : Kurkov, Andrey, Dralyuk, Boris: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

A beautifully realized story. Neffson’s first novel, NO FUN, is forthcoming from @milkweededitions.bsky.social.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I never miss a library sale in Tulsa. The last visit netted a beautiful edition of the works of the tragically short-lived Muscogee (Creek) poet Alexander Posey (1873-1908). His readings in Plutarch gave him the right perspective on the question of “great men” and their empires.

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Boris Dralyuk @bdralyuk.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

A brief tribute to my late friend Oscar Mandel (1926-2026). borisdralyuk.substack.com/p/home-goes-...

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